In Our Footsteps
by A Dead End
Summary: Ienzo was a happy child with loving parents when they first met, but time has an ugly way of twisting things.
1. Prologue: Simplicity

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything from the Kingdom Hearts fandom, however, the original characters are mine.

**Autor's Note:** This is the prequel and back story to '_Delicate Dreams_', but the two can be read entirely separately.

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><p>A young boy of six sat in an old musty library, engrossed in a hard cover copy of J.R.R Tolkien's 'The Silmarillion'. Now this would be quite heavy reading for someone his ages, but this child had an extraordinary mind. Brilliant was another way of describing it. With a little nurturing, he would become quite the genius. That was one reason why his father had been bringing him to work on weekends. The other reason was that both he and the boy's mother had busy full time jobs that often went into over hours, and a nanny was out of the question. Though it was unclear to the child the reason why.<p>

Afterschool when his parents weren't there to pick him up, which was how it generally went, the boy knew the usual drill - To go to his father's work place and wait for him in the library. He loved those days. He could just loose himself into another world full of adventure and fantasy, and forget everything else. Today was no exception.

His father worked as a scientist and researcher with the King of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, who owned the most extensive library in the world. He had been more that happy to have its contents be explored by a promising youth, who so happened to be the son of his most prominent employee.

The child brushed blue strands of hair out of his face, and pushed up his reading glasses. His normal vision was good, but close up, small letters tended to blur together. He'd finished all the 'big kids books' at his school, and upon entering Ansem's library, felt like he'd died and been sent to heaven.

"Ienzo." A warm whisper called him at the end of the day, and a silver, scruffy haired man smiled from the door at the other end of the room. The boy in question had huddled into a large chair, eyelids weighing down heavily. "Ienzo." The soft low voice was closer now.

Stirring slightly, the young blunette parted his eyes just enough to see who was talking to him. Recognizing the familiar person, he almost jerked the book into his face. "Daddy!" springing up, he jumped into the man's arms, voice between a shout and a yawn. "Are we going already?"

The man smirked lightly at reluctance to leave that his son always had in the evenings, and set him back down onto the ground. "You can come again tomorrow, I have a long day." Huffing, the boy grabbed his father's hand and let the man drag him along. "There'll also be a surprise for you."

Ienzo's eyes lit up. "What is it daddy?"

His son's enthusiasm excited him, and he just couldn't help himself. "A colleague is bringing their kid in tomorrow. You'll be able to make a new friend."

"But what if I don't want to?" Ienzo considered it for a moment. He'd been in special classes for gifted children all his life, with mainly older students. They were acquaintances, more like competition that real friends. It was possible that it might be fun, but it made him nervous. How would he handle this new person? Would easy would he be to converse with? Would their intellectual standards be close enough for them to get along, or would he reject him like other children seemed to, as just a little freak.

"Why don't you make up your mind after you meet him. It's not very scientific to draw conclusions out of nothing is it, hmh?" His father gave a carefree laugh "Lighten up, you're just like your mother." Ruffling the boy's hair, he pulled him in close.

Pressing against his father, the blunette smiled. "You're terrible at keeping secrets dad."

"But what's the fun in them if you don't get to tell someone." Pouting, the man managed to acquire a laugh from him son. Sometimes he made Ienzo doubt his maturity, and the fact whether or he had ever grown up. "Just pretend to act surprised, okay" he nudged the boy lightly.


	2. Indiscreet

Ienzo peered carefully into the dimly lit library, remembering what his father had told him. Yes, he'd act surprised, but he wouldn't want to be caught off his guard. Looking around from the door, it was just as he'd left it. Calling out would blow the whole situation, so he opted to simply perform his usual ritual. Anyway it seemed he was there first.

The blunette walked cautiously to the large lounge chair at the opposite end of the room amidst the towering bookshelves and sat down. He picked up the book that had waited for him on the chair with long nimble pianist's fingers, daring a glance around before beginning to read. It had been a long school day, concentrating on math and Shakespeare. It wasn't that he didn't like them, but keeping face in front of all his 'school-friends' and proving himself was exhausting. Some stress relief was in order. That sentence was the last thing anyone wants to hear about a six-year-old. If he earned top marks in the class against the eleven-year-olds, they'd leave him alone for a while. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to let down his guard.

But science was simple. On weekends, when his father brought him to work, he'd often spend time showing Ienzo what he did. He explained both simple and more complex equations to the boy, whether the child understood them or not. His father was the type to get so completely wrapped up in something when he was excited, be it even a frying pan , that everything else around seemed to dissolve. Ever since the first time, when the young blunette had been intrigued by the man's work, his father took it upon himself to pass down as much knowledge as possible to his son.

Shuffling in his chair, Ienzo was unable to fully concentrate on what he was reading. He found himself going over the same paragraph for the third time. Why couldn't this person come already? It made him more anxious than he wanted to admit. The fact was that this would probably be just as awkward as at school, and he hated it there.

A book fell two shelves the side, and the boy yelped in surprise, which he later would deny happening. So the culprit was already in the library.

"Who is there?" The boy picked himself off the seat. Leaving his book at reading glasses behind, he cautiously made his was to where a book was lying face down on the floor. But there was no one around. A bit disturbed by the lack of, well, anybody, he continued to search for the cause. A rustle from somewhere above him prompted him to shift his gaze higher.

"Hey down there." Waving to him was a girl in a grey dress, seemingly slightly younger than himself. She grinned softly, and Ienzo couldn't help but feel pretty embarrassed. He'd always held his own sensed in high esteem, and they'd just been deemed below par. He hadn't managed to ascertain her location.

When the boy's eye line met her's, there was something that the girl sensed. Something different. She stared down at the boy, expression turning to wonder. Ienzo almost shrieked when she leapt off the tall bookshelf and gracefully landed in front of him. It might have also had something to do with the flash of purple underwear that he received.

The girl approached him, eyes glinting with anticipation, not noticing the white strands of hair that had fallen on her face. The blunette began to back away, but her small hands where already softly placed on his cool cheeks. They didn't stay that way for long, starting to burn up under her touch sent shivers down his spine. The girl studied his face intently, till she was satisfied that she new every curve. Ienzo didn't dare look at her as eagerly out of courtesy. She pushed back the fringe hiding the other side of his face so that he couldn't help but stare right back at her. There was a majestic sapphire calamity in his eyes that mesmerized her, reflecting to the boy's soul. Her own eyes slid shut, she he shuddered from the sensation as she penetrated his mind. Ienzo found himself overflowing with an intoxicating feeling that was so unlike anything he believed existed. It was like snow falling in the summer. She was filling every part of his thoughts with a pure warmth that wrapped around his heart, breaking down all boundaries, relieving all stress until everything else faded. An eternity flashed before him. One filled with joy and tragedy, hate, forgiveness and love. It overloaded all of his nerves, to the point were he found himself paralyzed with numbness. It was a completely untarnished moment when timed seemed to still.

The next thing he registered was a soft 'thud'. Eyes fluttering open, he saw the girl collapsed on the floor. Kneeling down next to her in panic, he had no clue as what to do, let alone what had just happened. Picking up the girl feebly in his arms, Ienzo thanked the fact that she was considerably smaller that him. He managed to get her over to his lounge chair, and collapse down before his arms gave out. Then he remembered where he had left his reading glasses, and his eyes widened in horror. The book sat there next to him, the girl in his lap, but where were his glasses? Had he sat on them? Scouting around, the blunette was able to let out a deep relieved sigh when he saw them lying millimetres away from his ass still very much intact. Once he had them safely pushed up the bridge of his nose, he finally had a proper chance to look at the girl. She had moderately long silver white hair, pale cheeks and equally light lips. Her petite form fit snugly into the blunette's lap. And their first encounter was probably the most confusing one he'd had to date. More than that he probably wouldn't be able to deduct until she woke up.

Slowly, after almost twenty minutes, the girl started stirring. Ienzo had comfortably settled for using her as a book rest, and seemed oddly comfortable with her there. Stretching her arms out in a yawn, she didn't register anything until her fist came in contact with something other than furniture. Her head turned warily to see a blue haired boy, a year or two her senior. Ienzo. But how was she in his lap, and what was she doing there. Completely off her guard and puzzled, the girl turned her head back to face away from him.

"Umm, Ienzo, are you awake?" She muttered, hoping it was load enough for him to hear.

"Mmh." The blunette closed turned the page. "What is it Naya?"

Hearing the use of her name, she jumped off of him, landing hard on the floor. As a result Ienzo received a smack in the face from him book. Dazed, the boy pushed his glasses up and looked awkwardly down at her. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react. "How do you know my name?"

"Your name? The same way you know mine." Rubbing his nose, Ienzo put the book down next to him. A wrinkle formed itself on the bridge of his nose, as he too tried to understand… everything. "You were in me."

Naya pushed herself back, until she was about two feet away from him. "This, you, I uhh, I'm sorry."

Ienzo stood up and went to her side. "Shh, it's okay. It felt good."

"But I never…" She tried protesting. "Did you see things too?"

The boy nodded. "I did. Do you know what they were?"

"NO." Naya answered a bit too hastily, but the young blunette decided to overlook the matter for now. She stood up and walked to him, gaze sweeping her feet. "That's never happened before, but there's something different about you. You're shut, I can't see you unless I'm up close."

Ienzo smirked. "Well I don't understand half of what you mean. You are a bit weird but you're the first person that talks to me without looking down at me."

"That's easy, I'm shorter than you." She looked up at him and smiled, making that warm knot she tied around his heart tighten.

Shuffling to the side, the boy made room for her next to him. When Naya saw him pat the space next to him, she hopped up. They didn't converse much after that, instead Ienzo opened his book and started reading out loud. Time was standing quiet and still.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Sorry guys, took this chapter off for a while just to make sure I was happy with it. Had my friend take a quick look at it, and we came to the conclusion that it was fine the way it is. Hope you enjoyed it.


	3. Pieces

Who was Naya, that was the real question I was faced with. Even though I knew her, I didn't understand. It was like an equation where you can see each part but you don't know what they amount up to as a whole. I will tell you that I am not a person who is confused easily or often, and not by a girl younger than myself, but I cannot explain what happened when we met. She touched me in the most intimate way anyone ever could, and not just from a six-year -olds viewpoint. I learnt that later, much later.

Lets just say I wasn't good with people, at least that's what I felt. I mean just look at the size of my friend group. Well it was quite extensive if you counted every book in the library, but we were talking people wise and that was limited to this one new acquaintance. I wanted to believe that we were friends from that first moment, and maybe we were, but as I said I'm not good with people so I don't trust them.

If I'd even had a clue as to what that mind-merge was going to lead up to, what all those images meant, maybe I would have discontinued our acquaintance. No, just kidding, there was no chance that was going to happen. We just got along after that pretty effortlessly.

She was a girl two years my junior, wasn't attending school for a reason I knew, but like most about her I didn't comprehend. Her father was a scientist who worked along with mine, her mother a researcher who spent a lot of time away. I wanted to try out what had happened on our first meeting again, but she usually deflected to another subject, showing considerable discomfort. Sometimes she would say that she didn't really know how to control it, and that it had surprised her almost as much as me. I believe her. But still, she's holding a lot back from me concerning it. I understand, at least I feel I do. We have all the time in the world to learn to trust.

To begin with, Naya and me didn't do much. We just sat in the library together and listened to each other read. I think she might have mild dyslexia, words tend to get a bit tangled when she reads out load. I don't mind. I'm glad she carries on, and doesn't give up. The way she expresses herself shows something beyond her years, but I have a feeling that this might have something to do with her abilities. I didn't ask about them at first just to be considerate, but curiosity began to get the better of me.

…

"Naya?" Ienzo smiled softly

"Hmm." The girl turned to him wide-eyed and inquisitive.

The blunette sighed, and looked at her. "You're going to have to tell me sooner or later. How are you the way you are, because I know no five-year old that is like you. Please…"

Considering what the boy was asking for a moment, Naya finally bit her lip. "Something happened to my father in an experiment, we don't really talk about it." There was a long pause, as if the white-haired girl was gathering strength to tell him. She let her gaze slip off him and travel around the room, not stopping while he tried to chase it with his own. He gently rubbed her hand for comfort. "But I don't hear you, not like others. Everyone else is so loud, and I know so much about them that it's embarrassing.

"Is that why you don't go to school, because you hear what they're thinking?"

Naya smiled a sigh. "That was my own choice. I don't have to, see I know everything I need to."

The boy looked at her confused. "Everything?"

"I've seen what the teachers know, what the scientists here know, what people that walk past me know. The children at school didn't like that I knew everything, they didn't like me…"

"So you stopped." Naya looked away and Ienzo hugged her close for comfort, he knew too well how it felt to be excluded. There was a long quiet pause, less than comfortable, but not quite awkward either. "What did you mean when you said you couldn't hear me?"

"I can," she turned back to him, gazing intently into his eyes. "It's just different." Standing up, she propped down on the floor in front of him, still holding him with a soft stare. "But it doesn't hurt, I can still breath."

Ienzo watched her eyes slip from his. A small smile crept onto his features, a sympathetic smile. He still didn't understand, but he appreciated her trying to let him into her world. Looking at her from above, he felt closer and further away at the same time, comfortable there with her and afraid of something. Even after a year since they had met, he wasn't much closer to knowing what she could do. He pursed his thin lips together in thought.

The girl lifted her gaze back to look at the boy. There was a cute little winkle on his brow above his cold blue eyes. She leant in, massaging it away with her short bony fingers. Ienzo flinched slightly but stayed still nonetheless. It was like magic as she made his apprehension melt away. He wanted to say something, but her mind quietly hushed him, so no words could begin to form in his mind. She had him paralyzed with a touch, and yet he felt in control, telling her not to stop. She didn't.

The boy finally eased himself back into the fold of the large armchair. He watched Naya curl up at his feet, close her emerald eyes and drift off away from him. For a moment, something inside him told him to run, to leave before she woke up. Something warned him about the harmless girl sleeping on the floor, advising him to have nothing more to do with her for both their sakes. He knew better than to ignore it, and still, against his better judgment, he chose to stay.

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><p><strong>AN: **It's been a while since I update, been really busy, but hope you liked the new chapter.


	4. Premature

Naya yawn softy as she woke up next to a teal haired boy, his arm comfortably draped around her. She pushed in closer to him for warmth and was about to close her eyes again. "You know the whole day is going to go to waste if you just keep sleeping." The boy hummed and pushed up his reading glasses as he quietly kept scanning the page.

"But if I'm tired." She pouted.

"Night time is for sleeping, you should try it sometime." He stayed focused on his book.

"But that's when it's peaceful, no one's awake which mean no mass of thoughts going through peoples minds. I can just be, you have no idea how refreshing that it. And their dreams," The girl was smiling up at the boy. "They're so amazing, I just wanna watch them."

Ienzo still didn't pay her any more attention that their conversation warranted. "So you come here to sleep while I try to read, you don't think it's rather selfish distracting me like that."

Naya pouted now. "Aww that's mean, how could I possibly be bothering you by just sleeping. You seem to be reading just fine."

The smallest smile ghosted on the blunette's lips. "Well your snoring for one."

"I do not snore." The girl declared, visibly irritated now. She decided to enact revenge, poking the older boys ribs with a bony finger, knowing exactly what reaction it would elicit. He squeaked at the sudden pressure to a very sensitive, and ticklish spot.

"Hey, what was that for!?"

"You know very well mister." Naya stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't do that, it makes you look ugly." The boy retorted more bluntly than he had intended to, regretting it instantly. The white haired girl's playful expression dropped, and she pushed away from him to leave. Her attempt failed when the arm around her pulled her in tightly. "Did I tell you to leave?" he asked, still very bland and uninterested but slightly softer.

"But I'm bothering you." Naya pouted again, and tried leaving again.

This time he pulled her in so close she could barely breath. "You could never bother me, I was just messing with you silly. Now stay there and be quiet."

Managing a small nod, the boy seemed satisfied and loosed his hold enough for her to adjust into a more comfortable position. For a moment she stayed completely unmoving, until finally turning to look up at his beautifully flawless face. Pushing his fringe enough to reveal his other eye, he sighed and looked at her. "What is it Naya?"

"Why do you insist of hiding that eyes, it's so pretty?" She gave him questioning smile.

He gently swatted her hand away and carried on reading. "Don't say a boy is pretty, it's demeaning."

Naya turned away and leant against his chest. "I was talking about your eye, that's different." She mumbled. Ienzo decided that it wasn't a subject demanding any more argument and simply ignored her.

"Ienzo?" the girl mumbled, half wishing he wouldn't hear. He seemed in one of those moods again where nothing in the world mattered, not even her.

"Hhm?" he acknowledged

"I want ice cream." She tried smiling again.

Ienzo huffed. "Right now, you want ice cream right now when I'm in the middle of…"

"It's okay, forget I asked." Naya pulled away a bit, feeling his cold eyes scanning her for a brief moment.

"Could I just finish this bit?" it was more of a statement than a request, and Naya just sank back into the chair muttering a quiet 'okay'.

After about twenty minutes, Ienzo snapped the book shut. "Well that that unexpected." He retorted sarcastically, looking down at the girl next to him. She was sleeping, figures. While staring at the white haired creature in his arms, something in his heart fluttered softly, warming him on the inside. He reached a hand and stroked her hair, making her brow crease into a frown. He huffed to himself in amusement, but the fluttering grew, which made him grimace. 'What is this feeling?' he stopped, hand freezing on her head. He pulled it away and the sensation subsided slightly. The blunette then put his hand against her cheek and his heartbeat sped up again. 'Why is it doing that?' he didn't understand.

"Hmh." The young girl sighed, and pushed closer to him, making what started as a small feeling escalate quickly. Ienzo looked at her shocked, 'how could someone do that?' what was an eight year old boy meant to do at that point, feeling these things for the very first time. This was his friend, his best friend, like a sister he'd never had and here she was making him feel funny on the inside… but why. He leant in closer, face heating, and places a soft kiss on her brow to ease out the creases. She smiled and he felt like suffocating on the inside… how?

Naya stirred and woke up to the boys face inches from hers. She smiled. "You finished that bit now?" poking his forehead to make him back up, she hopped off his lap. Ienzo looked at her feeling queasy, she seemed fine, so it must have just been him feeling this. "Hey, are you okay?" The girl walked to him and cupped his cheeks in her hands, inspecting his face.

A hot redness crept onto the blunette's face. "Y-yes." He stuttered, very confused by what has happening.

Bright green orbs looked at him worried, feeling his forehead. "Hmm, you do feel a bit warm, maybe we should just stay inside for today." She smiled sympathetically.

"No, it's okay. I think I'm fine, I just feel a bit… weird." He stood up, ready to go. Grabbing her hand, he made his way to the door, trying to calm the feeling that was building in his chest. She was just an annoying little sister figure that always seemed to be doing everything to irritate him, this must be just another one of those things. He just needed fresh air and it would pass, right?

The girl let her friend pull her along, still a little concerned about him. But the warm grip on her hand reassured her that everything was alright.

...

Ansem saw the two children walking down the hall of the castle, towards the outer doors he reckoned to play or something. But somehow Ienzo look angry? He was dragging Naya behind him, and she looked very happy to follow. The older man raised a confused eyebrow. Must be some new game that they're playing, he though to himself and shook his head. He was too old understand, he retorted to himself.


End file.
